Julian West, 30, was intense, nervous, troubled with insomnia. In the
old West mansion in Boston, he built a soundproof subterranean sleeping
chamber, hired a mesmerist to put him to sleep. On the night of May 30,
1887 he was particularly upset. Strikes in the building trades had
stopped work on his new house, delaying his marriage to lovely Edith
Bartlett. At 9 p.m. Julian went to his quiet room and was put into a
trance calculated to last until 9 the next morning....